nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
17. Neither did I return to Jerusalem. What he had just written is now explained, and more fully stated. As if he had said, “I did not ask the authority of any man,” not even of the apostles themselves. It is a mistake to suppose, that, because the apostles are now separately mentioned, they are not included in the words, flesh and blood.
What Paul had said more generally, in the preface of this epistle, he now proceeds more particularly to enlarge upon. There he had declared himself to be an apostle of Christ; and here he comes more directly to support his claim to that character and office.
Commenting on Galatians 1:10-24
Neither went I up to Jerusalem,.... That is, immediately, as soon as he was converted, not till three years after, as follows; though by the account which Luke gives of him, Act 9:23 and by that which the apostle gives of himself, Act 22:17 it looks as if he went to Jerusalem some little time after his conversion, and before the date here given: and...